How long do you think it took Carlisle and Esme to express their feelings towards each other? Who said what and who said it first?

panlight:

SM has said that Esme was in love with him from the start, and it was just a matter of him falling in love with her. That is, he didn’t change her for like “hey I’ve found a wife” reasons, but because he remembered her fondly as this happy young lady and his compassion moved him to do something. I sort of imagine it like the “not her” moment Edward had with the van–it wasn’t a conscious “I love her I have to save her” thing so much as just like “what are the odds that she would end up here, still alive in the morgue, at the only hospital with a doctor who could do something?” 

But I think it became clear pretty quickly they were kindred spirits. It wouldn’t take Carlisle long to be impressed by Esme’s Esme-ness. This is a guy who never had a mother, a guy who spent centuries alone. He’s always the caretaker as a doctor, and then to Edward (and also checking up on Alistair). And then there’s Esme, who just exudes this warmth and caring. Maybe she’s focusing all her newborn energy (and trying to keep distracted from her grief) on rearranging the bachelor pad into a more welcoming home; Carlisle’s watching her make this transformation, and watching her express her maternal instincts toward Edward, reminding him to wear a coat even though the cold doesn’t bother them. Esme mends the socks Carlisle was just going to replace, she adjusts his tie one evening before work, and it wouldn’t take long for him to fall for her. 

Meanwhile she’s basically found herself in a situation akin to being ‘saved’ from death by her celebrity crush. She daydreamed about this guy for 10 years and then here he is. And he’s the opposite of her husband–where Charles was angry and violent, Carlisle is calm and gentle. He comforts her through her grief, teaches her about her new life. She watches the relationship between Carlisle and Edward and realizes this is the kind of father she’d have wanted for her poor little baby boy. 

And then there’s Edward, hearing all this in their minds as they both politely dance around each other without saying anything, Esme worried he still sees her as that sixteen-year-old girl, or that she’s his ‘daughter’ like Edward is his ‘son,’ and Carlisle not wanting to presume or pressure, worried that if he expresses any romantic interest she’ll think of him like some Gothic novel villain who snatched her in the night to be his monster bride. And Edward’s like *facepalm* “headdesk* One day he’s feeling cheeky and starts playing some waltz or foxtrot on the piano and Esme sighs about how nice it would be to dance and Carlisle walks in, home from work, and Edward’s like ESME WANTS TO DANCE. 

I think Esme has to make the first move, Carlisle’s nothing if not patient and he’s also more reserved that Esme (who opened up about her dead baby on the first day she met Bella), so she’s probably overwhelmed with newborn emotion one day and just kisses him, “I’ve wanted to do that for 10 years!” And the centuries-old learned vampire doctor is suddenly a 23-year-old kid in love, totally out of his element.